Impact Story: Shannon Butner

 Impact Story: Shannon Butner

We want everyone to know that Church isn’t a spectator sport. We want everyone to share each other's stories; in an impact story, we like to do that with three things: talk about what happened in the past, when you met Christ, and what’s your response to that now. This is to build each other up and to provide opportunities to pour into other people‘s lives.

Who is Shannon Butner?

My name is Shannon Butner, and before I met Christ, my life was a mess. I grew up in an abusive home. My mom was addicted, so she was angry all the time as an adult. Unfortunately, these are the kind of people that I surrounded myself with, declaring them as friends and intimate partners. Hence, it was all violence and addiction and nothing good. There was nothing good in my life as a child or young adult, even in the case of love. I knew a couple of guys who were so mean that they tried to take me out of the world, but they didn’t; they failed. I’m still here. Thank God He wasn’t ready for me to come home: I had not served His purpose yet. He had a plan for me, so I’m still here kicking, and I’m grateful for that. If it wasn’t for His angels looking over me, I don’t know where I’d be.

Throughout these many trials, were you in West Virginia or somewhere else?

I grew up in Philadelphia and lived in West Virginia for 6 years, but throughout my life, I went back and forth quite a bit.  I’m familiar with city life and country life, so I’m grateful for that. I’ve got to have both experiences growing up.

So when did you move to the county?

My ex-husband is from Mercer County. I was in Wheeling when we met, and I came down here to try to rekindle our relationship, and then I just been here ever since. I’ve been here for six years now, and over time, it kind of grows on you. With the people down here, they make you love the place more than anything. It has been a pleasant experience, even with the struggles over the years.

When did you start to see God intervene in your heart to bring you into salvation?

When I was going back and forth with my ex-husband, my friend invited me to church, and I’m grateful for that now because I wouldn't have come by myself. I knew something was missing in my life. I felt a sort of void. I just didn’t know what it was, so I came to church, and when I came, I started coming to Reclamation regularly. That’s when I realized God was the fulfiller of the void: that’s who I needed in my life, that’s what I need to seek. God, the only one who can fulfill anything in my life. I love this church. I fell in love with God and the Church. That’s why I told my friend Angie, when I said you’re gonna fall in love with the people here, you will feel the love of God when you walk in the church, you will feel it to be true. *I really want to delete this and reformat, but is that too much changing

Tell us more about what your life looks like now.

Well, now I just want to start serving the Lord in whatever way He wants me to. I’m grateful that I get to have a friend to pour into, a neighbor of mine that I fellowshipped with daily. I've been constantly trying to get her to church for years; she wouldn’t come. After some investigating, I found she wasn’t able to come because she couldn’t find anybody to bring her. So I bring her with me, and every time Sunday rolls around, she’s excited to be here. I’m excited for her to be here when the days slowly come to Sunday. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get more people to come to church cause if I could just get them in the door, I know they will want to come back. I know that they will. They’ll feel a lot of God’s presence, and they want to come back. God will bring them back through those doors, even if their foot was stuck in the door, they would be pushed in.

How do you serve outside of church?

I bring the Church to my neighbors by creating art and/or cooking dinner with them. All seven of our neighbors take delight in this. It’s a great way to fellowship and pray for each other. We pray for each other all the time to be good witnesses, and when we are hurting.

As you serve God now, fulfilling His purpose, just as He filled your purpose, where do you feel that God is bringing you towards?

I wanted to help kids' classes with Erica, who does RCkids, because I think listening to kids worship the Lord is one of the most outstanding things to see. I really want to start working with these kids. I want to join all the different teams that need help around the Church. Also, helping bring people into the church to see more people here. I want to see our church as a body that supports each other and brings new believers into that.

Philippians 4:13

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

As we look into Shannon’s story, she shows that through our suffering, God plays a hand in leading us out into what is fulfilling to His will. She shows us three things that we must do when God comes into our lives. The first being gathering the people in our life who are lost, who need to be saved, like our neighbors or local community, who aren’t able to go to church because they are overlooked. Secondly, growing in God’s love, being more mature, and picking up the roles He wants us to be in. Either that is the kids ministry, the worship team, hospitality, or other roles. Lastly, going to where the lost are and seeing God’s people multiplied, even if it means going to where others don’t have a church and bringing the church to them over dinner.